The present invention relates to an identification plate for a pallet container for storage and transport of liquid or free-flowing materials.
Nothing in the following discussion of the state of the art is to be construed as an admission of prior art.
A pallet container of a type involved here includes an inner thin-walled plastic container having an upper fill opening and a lower drain valve, a lattice frame disposed in close surrounding relationship to the plastic container and having horizontal and vertical lattice rods which are welded together, and a bottom plate on which the plastic container is supported and on which the lattice frame is mounted. The bottom plate may be constructed as simple wooden pallet, as steel frame pallet, or as plastic pallet.
A pallet container in lightweight construction with a fill volume of about 1,000 I is disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,453, which describes a lattice frame of quadrilateral tubes and is used for transport of liquid or free-flowing materials. The pallet container may be used for the transport and storage of hazardous liquid materials like chemicals (e.g. solvents, acids etc.), only when passing the inspection tests by an authorized official institution and receiving a registration number. Typically, each pallet container has mounted on the lattice frame on the side of the discharge fitting an identification plate (label plate) on which a respective information sheet is glued or placed in an attached transparent pocket for identification of the respective content, content manufacturer, pallet manufacturer, registration number, or similar data. Some manufacturers secure the identification plates through a bolted connection onto two or three horizontal rods of the lattice frame. Such bolted connections by means of four or six bolts are time-consuming and may result in injuries as a consequence of the protruding bolt heads.
An identification plate or lettering plate without bolted connections is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,623. The pallet container has lattice rods which are designed as round tubes and drawn in at the intersection points for formation of trough-shaped double-walled depressions which extend in longitudinal direction of the lattice rods so that the lattice rods which are welded together at the intersection points lie approximately in a plane (round tube lattice frame). The lettering plate mounted thereon has a lower support edge which is beveled or flanged outwardly and which abuts a lower horizontal lattice rod and engages behind the latter, whereas the upper edge is designed as a clawed edge and in the mounted state of the lettering plate fits behind an upper horizontal lattice rod thereby resiliently bracing the lettering plate. This is disadvantageous because on one hand the edges which reach behind the horizontal lattice rods can touch the thin-walled inner plastic container, in particular when a filled inner container bulges outwards between two vertical rods and is exposed to shaking during transport, and on the other hand anyone is able to overcome the resilient bracing by hand without any further aids in order to remove and manipulate (e.g. exchange) the sheet metal plate without authorization. According to a modified configuration, the sheet metal plate is provided on the upper side of the outer edges with particular insert sleeves for plastic clamp pins which fit in the mounted state of the plate with their head into the trough-shaped depressions of the upper horizontal lattice rods and thereby fix the plate. A seal of originality may be provided in the form of an additional push button with a web, which spreads like a wedge, and bolts, which are attached by film hinges and must be pressed into a particularly provided depression on the upper edge of the sheet metal plate. This construction is disadvantageous because of the need for additional plastic securing elements which may become brittle through exposure to weather influences and may easily break off when subjected to impacts.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved identification plate for attachment to a pallet container to obviate prior art shortcomings and to allow easy securement without additional fastening or securing means.